Disable Smilies in This Post. Show Signature: include your profile signature. Only registered users may have signatures.

*If HTML and/or UBB Code are enabled, this means you can use HTML and/or UBB Code in your message.

If you have previously registered, but forgotten your password, click here.

T O P I C R E V I E W

Philip

Randolph engineering sunglasses were worn since the Gemini-era by NASA crews.

Silhouette 'Titan Minimal Art Space' glasses are worn by astronauts on shuttle missions. These glasses are Austrian-made and don't even have little screws to hold everything together. Each astronaut got five of those!

ilbasso

I like this picture of John Phillips on Expedition 11 - between the granny glasses, the gray hair, moustache, and puffy face from weightlessness, this shot makes it look like Wilford Brimley is taking a spacewalk!

ejectr

Hmm.... funny that American Optical (AO) advertises that Apollo 11 wore their "Original Pilot" sunglasses to the moon if Randolph claims to have been the supplier since the Gemini days.

Personally, I was issued a pair of AO's by the Navy in 1969.

Philip

Well, were those straight ear-bars sunglasses Randolph or Ray-Ban or AO... is there a website anywhere which could clear this out?

ejectr

Mine were paddle temple AO.

AO claims that Apollo 11 took their original pilot model to the moon as this ad states:

In fact, the Original Pilot Sunglass was honored to be the first ever sunglass to be brought up to the moon with the crew of the "Eagle" lunar landing in 1969. It was subsequently featured in the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum in Washington, DC.

Also, Navy pilots have a directive NOT to wear anything but AO glasses because of the natural light lens. If anything else is used under their pull down sun shield on their helmet and looking through a tinted canopy, loss of visual acuity will occur due to the several layers of shading and polarization.

I'll email my son at Edwards AFB and see what he was issued.

ejectr

From my son at Edwards AFB:

Randolph Engineering makes them for the Air Force, I don't know about the Navy. I actually don't have AF issue sunglasses, I just use the visor.

The American Optical sun glasses that Mike Collins wore on Apollo 11 are still on display at the National Air and Space Museum. They are the same type I was given.

GeminiXII

I was fortunate to bid on and win Jim Lovell's glasses case from the Apollo 13 flight and was wondering if anyone knew exactly where he may have carried them. The Apollo 13 stowage list states that it was "on" the astronaut.

spaced out

The sunglasses were carried in a dedicated pocket on the upper right arm of the A7L space suit, and on the inflight coveralls.

By the way, I must ask the obvious question with regards the case you bought... just where the heck are Jim's sunglasses?

GeminiXII

I wrote Jim Lovell and inquired about the whereabouts of the sunglasses. You were exactly correct about where the glasses case was stowed.

Lovell stated that it was too bad that he didn't keep the glasses but he didn't specify exactly where they ended up. He stated that he transferred the case to his inflight suit and that only when the sun was in the vicinity of the window did he ever wear his sunglasses.

NASA is evaluating a new type of adjustable eyeglass lens called TruFocals for use during training and on missions. For the past six months NASA has been taking TruFocals (made by Van Nuys, Calif.–based Zoom Focus Eyewear, LLC) through a detailed certification process to ensure they are not only a better option than other types of eyeglasses but that the materials used to make them will not pose a hazard to astronauts in their enclosed work environs, says C. Robert Gibson, a senior optometrist at the NASA Johnson Space Center in Houston.

spacefan JC

I have just ordered a pair of American Optical Original Pilot sunglasses, in silver with grey lenses. I understand these were used in Apollo (as shown by Collins' in NASM) and they changed to Randolph in 1982.

Can't wait for them to arrive to have a pair of sunglasses as issued by NASA for Apollo.

Crew cut and chinos now to complete the look... Just need a beta cloth case!!!!

Philip

At the little museum of the NASA DSN Tidbinbilla near Canberra, Australia, I noticed a display entitled "Aussie Eyes in space" about special eye wear designed by Australian optician Dr. John Colvin.

It looks like these glare reducing sunglasses were used during the Apollo and Skylab project... can anyone acknowledge?

E-mail me if you want a photo of the display!

Chariot412

Just checked my old Air Force pilot issued sunglasses from the 1980's and, yep, they're the gold A.O. By the way, the air force stopped issuing the gold and switched to dull silver sometime in the '90s if I remember correctly.

Mike Dixon

quote:Originally posted by Philip:At the little museum of the NASA DSN Tidbinbilla near Canberra, Australia, I noticed a display entitled "Aussie Eyes in space" about special eye wear designed by Australian optician Dr. John Colvin.

There was an optometrist in Melbourne who definitely supplied sunglasses to both Pete Conrad and Richard Gordon for G12.

Can't remember his name, but he proudly displayed a signed picture given to him by the crew, together with the story behind the development of the glasses in his store window.